Helpful Benefits of Green Tea

Green tea can boost your health in some pretty amazing ways. First of all, you need to know that it comes well recommended. The Chinese have been drinking this beverage for thousands of years — giving it a long and proven history as a health remedy.

Modern research too has shown that drinking green tea is beneficial to your health.

Here’s a list of seven health benefits of this tried and true brew:

1. Weight loss

Drinking this beverage helps you feel full, so it can curb your appetite. It may also help you burn more calories according to a study published in November, 1999, by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

2. Anti-Aging properties

Green tea is rich in the antioxidants vitamin E and C. Antioxidants destroy free radicals that damage cell membranes. Damaged cell membranes lead to diseases such as cancer, heart attacks and diabetes.

Drinking it may help relieve the suffering caused by rheumatoid arthritis. This was revealed in a study in April 1999 by researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Green tea contains a substance called theophylline. It’s a muscle relaxant, so it can cause the muscles supporting the bronchial tubes to relax — thus reducing asthma’s ability to restrict normal breathing.

4. Lowers blood pressure

If you have high blood pressure, you will be more susceptible to a heart attack or stroke. Green tea may prevent the formation of blood clots which lead to heart disease and stroke.

5. Fights cancer

A team from the Mayo Clinic found that three out of four chronic leukemia patients (who were given green tea extract) seemed to experience regression of the disease. The fourth patient also showed some improvement. The doctors gave the extract a try after a 2004 test tube study of green tea revealed that leukemia cells were killed by the substance.

According to the American Cancer Society, “Green tea contains chemicals known as polyphenols, which have antioxidant properties. Catechins are the major group of polyphenols in green tea. The most important catechin seems to be epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). EGCG may cause cancer cells to die like normal cells do. It may also work by stopping new blood vessels from forming, a process called angiogenesis, thereby cutting off the supply of blood to cancer cells.”

It is interesting to note that there seem to be fewer cancer deaths in Japan than in the United States. Could it be because citizens there drink a lot of green tea?

6. May lower cholesterol

Studies have shown that this drink may help lower cholesterol with no side effects. By lowering cholesterol, the body receives help in fighting heart disease and stroke as well.

7. Guards against infections

In April of 2003 the New York Times reported that its extract has the ability to strengthen the immune system’s ability to fight disease. Microbiologist Milton Schiffenbauer, professor at Pace University (New York) stated, “Our research shows tea extracts can destroy the organism that causes disease. If we can stimulate the immune system and at the same time we are destroying the organisms then it makes sense to drink more tea.”

Try gargling with it when you feel a cold or the flu coming on. Soak your feet in it for athlete’s foot or just as a refreshing foot bath.

In this article you’ve read an impressive list of claims for the health benefits of drinking green tea. Although not a magic cure, it sure wouldn’t hurt to add this proven ancient beverage to your daily diet.